>> we have a lot of people still trapped in houses but that's dangerous material. that's hazardous material. we can't get to them. >> a triage center was established at a local high school but later evacuated for fear of a second explosion. >> right now, we have tremendous amount of injuries. probably over 100 injuries at this time, at this time. >> fires by the blast burned into the morning. those fires and possible dangerous fumes preventing emergency workers from searching the rubble. >> about half this town of 2800 people evacuated during the night because of the danger of toxic fumes. it so happens that the mayor of west tunimuska also is a volunteer firefighter. he tells us that right now, 3-5 volunteer firefighters who drove here to help here are missing. from west texas, david scott, back to you. >> that is just rough all wait around. we will find out more as the sun

has come up down in texas. to give you an idea about this city, west texas, a very small town with a population of 2700 people, one man says they only have three ambulances in the entire town and at least one of them was already at that plant when the blast went off. which will, of course, continue following this story throughout the morning. starting at 5:00, the "today" show will be along and bring you the latest starting at 7:00. right here in the bay area, we have breaking news in san francisco where a bomb squad, a bomb squad unit is now on the scene of a suspicious package located in that financial district. "today in the bay's" christie smith is live near market and third street. she has the latest on scene. good. >> reporter: good morning. we are on the 600 block of market street. they are blocking off all access points. the area in question is right on the other side of the yellow tape. i don't know if you can see a vehicle down there. it has four lights on it.

i'm told that's the san francisco bomb squad that was called out here about 2:47. that's when they first got a report of a suspicious package. i sfoek with one officer and he said he didn't know. he was told to not let anyone in. they have evacuated the area. this is market near montgomery. we drove around at third and mission. that access point is blocked off as well. what's interesting, there are a lot of people waiting around as steve can pan around. they are standing here in period costumes and the red cross is here. they had been here for at least the last hour or so. the reason they are here is because they wanted to get one block down and go to the commemoration of the 1906 quake but the officer i spoke with said at this point, that's been delayed. they just can't let anyone through until they know exactly what this suspicious package is. again, we are going to keep checking with san francisco police of a lot of folks

standing around trying to get down to the mountain. at this point, they are delayed. they have to stay out of this area where the suspicious package is while san francisco police investigate. christie smith, "today in the bay." it is 4:35. turning to the terror in boston where investigators there say they are closing in on a suspect. police sources tell nbc news the department store surveillance video near one of the blast sites captured images of a man leaving a bag or backpack at the spot where one of the bombs went off. a photo from nbc affiliate whdh shows a garbage bag right where the second bomb exploded. >> large injuries were on the side of it. the debrief field to the left, some protected areas on the right side that indicate the blast was to one side of the trash receptacle. president obama and the

first lady will visit boston to offer comfort and support. they will attend an interfaith service at the cathedral of the holy cross in the south end of the city. the president will meet with first responders as well as state and local officials. thousands of people online are hoping they can help. authorities trying to identify that bomber on bay area based read it. while people say the public can be helpful but the effort raises concerns about pointing the finger at the wrong people. >> when people's names start to use and they say this person was it and people start stating things that they don't really know as a fact, that's when we get into the defamation. >> they are telling nbc bay area it does not have a comment about this new trend on its website. but, the rules on the site are clearly there stating people are innocent until proven guilty and read it does not support vigilante justice. >> the family of the bay area

boy injured in the bomb can says he is trying harder to communicate as he recovers from the second surgery. 11-year-old aaron hern remained in critical condition yesterday after more than three hours of surgery. his mother said in an online post that aaron is trying to communicate to a touch pad. he was standing near the finish line with his father and little sister to cheer on his mom when those bombs went off. as always, we will continue to follow new developments surrounding the explosion here on "today in the bay" and on our website, nbc bay area.com. san mateo county taking some steps to better prepare itself for a major health emergency. more than 20 agencies taking part in a countrywide health emergency drill taking place this morning. that drill will test the county's ability to mass distribute medicine from the u.s. center of disease control. officials will go door to door visiting more than 1500 homes to simulate handing out medicine in the event of a flu, pandemic or

biological attack, along with food or water-borne illnesses. >> investigators are looking into a shooting where an officer shot and killed a man armed with a hammer. it happened at about 9:30 last night on de haro street s a man confronted the police officers when they got to the scene with a raised hammer. officers ordered him to drop the weapon. they say he didn't. officers fearing for their safety shot and killed the man. the family member who was stabbed by the suspect is recovering 4:39, a very busy morning all the way around. let's get our first check on weather. christina loren is here to tell us about a thursday morning and looking pretty good. i am pretty happy to be able to give you some good news this morning. we do have winds that are stopping to drop off. a break from the wind finally today. it is pretty chilly. we are at 40 to start the day in

gilroy. just about as cool as it was at this time yesterday. between 12:00 and 1:00, upper 60s, low 70s. even the coastline getting a taste of those room temperature readings. 72, santa cruz. 71, san francisco, 77, fremont. your weekend forecast coming up next. first, i want to check your drive on a thursday with mike inouye. i am going to take you out to the golden gate bridge. no wind advisory. you see the light volume of traffic coming into the city. let's look at the map, top of your screen is the golden gate bridge. there is some construction at the north end. that's pretty typical overnight. we are taking you into the city where christie smith reported about that suspicious package found around market and montgomery. also, activity around third. that's where we are hearing the closure for market street itself for a couple of blocks through the area. that will undoubtedly cause a disturbance although we have nothing official. watch the surface street system on market through the corridor heading up third from kearney. we are looking at the lines on

the rails underground. no delays. now, back to the map. we will show you again, san francisco, third and market or montgomery and market as well. we are watching for the suspicious activity and the closure. we have an earlier car fire reported south 280. a little slowing shows up right now. it doesn't sound like it is in the lanes. that will be a distraction and we will track all of this for you and accepted it back to the desk. 4:40 right now. "toda today marks the 107th anniversary of the great earthquake of 1906. the foun ton served as a meeting point for people displeased by the quake. new video released to the man oakland police say posed as a maintenance worker to molest a young child. we will show it to you next plus, the new law in the works to try and keep convicted sex offenders off of california

school campuses. we will continue to follow the breaking news out of west texas, still, no exact word on how many people were killed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant. an update is next.

it was like an earthquake. a lot of the buildings are gone. we need to get some search teams

in here to get the people out. >> the search for survivors continues as many as 50 people are dead. the last count, almost 200 people injured. dozens of homes and businesses leveled by the concussion of the explosion, including a nursing home and a school. this morning, investigators say they are calling it a criminal investigation until they learn otherwise. we will continue to follow the story out of west texas, bring you live updates throughout the morning. what a faterrifying scene tt is. mary thompson joining us live from cnbc world headquarters. good morning. >> good morning. we are looking ahead to this morning's open on wall street. futures are higher following wednesday's selloff. that marked the third straight day of triple digit moves. the markets did come off the low. the index dropped 138 points. the nasdaq fell 60 points finishing at 3,204.

another big day for earnings. among the company reported before the bell, better than reported results. after the markets closed, it is a tech triple play with ibm, google and microsoft all reporting. there is also an ipo today. seaworld entertainment is trying for a $540 million ipo, among the largest offeringsings so far. they plan to sell 20 million shares between $24 and $27 a piece. back to you. >> mary thompson, thank you very much. >> own a piece of shamu. >> big slice. let's check the weather with meteorologist, christina loren. good morning. it is going to be a nice day today. i am happy to be able to bring bring you some good news. temperatures aren't going to be all that warm just yet. we are talking about the 70s today. can't beat that. on your seven-day forecast, i will reveal when the 90s come

into the forecast. it is going to be really warm around here really quickly. 48 degrees. good morning in fairfield. 45 to start the day in walnut creek. thanks for waking up in oakland. temperatures are running on the chilly side as we head throughout the day today. they are going to warm up nicely. start in the low 50s, upper 40s. by noon, temperatures are going to be in the mid-60s. winds, much more of a factor. your wind gusts now, in the 15-20-mile-per-hour range. not as gusty as we head throughout the day. temperatures on the mild side. 77, fremont. 77, san jose and a comfortable 81 degrees in gilroy. comfortable considering where we are headed. look at these numbers. we will in the 80s all weekend long until the 90s arrive on monday. it is going to be hot just about every single day next week. back to you and the rest of the top stories of the day. >> thank you.

it is 4:47. shock and anger in washington after the senate shot down a bill that would have expanded background checks to gun sales and internet sales. >> all in all, this was a pretty shameful day for washington. >> surrounded by victims of gun violence, including newtown families. how something the majority of americans support could be voted down by lawmakers. he blamed the nra for spreading lies about the proposal. former congresswoman, gabrielle giffords, is expected to speaken o the on the bill she lobbied for. she calls lawmakers cowards ignoring the pleas from newtown families. >> we will not be defeated. we are not going away. >> the hardest part was to try to look these families in the eye and explain to them how 90% of the american people can be on their side and the united states senate failed to reach 60 votes.

>> the bill fell six votes short of passing. this morning, the families and the president are vowing to try again. >> the man suspected of kidnapping and killing morgan hill teenager sierra lamar, antoine garcia torres is scheduled for a plea hearing. his plea has been delayed several times recently because of technical problems with dozens of photo discs and interview discs which prosecutors gave to the defense team. the defense says it does not want to enter a plea until it understands exactly what evidence the prosecution has. garcia torres being charged with kidnapping and murder in the disappearance of sierra lamar. that happened last year. her body has yet to be found. >> it is 4:49. oakland police hope that surveillance video will help catch a child molester. take a good look. the man seen running in this video is believed to have attacked a 7-year-old girl last saturday. police say the man posed as a

maintenance worker to get into an apartment on oak and tenth street. police say at some point, he was alone in a room with a 7-year-old and began molesting her. the girl screamed and a family member came into the room and the man ran off. he is described as six-feet tall, thin build with light, brown hair. a white beard, early to mid-50s. >> a bill aimed as keeping convicted sex offenders off california school campuses, one step closer to becoming a law. you may remember parents were outraged when a convicted sex offender was allowed to volunteer at saint frances cabrini school. the bill would require school officials to speak with authority before allowing a registered sex offender to volunteer on campus and in some cases, the school would have to notify parents. this bill was approved by the senate education committee just yesterday. it now heads to the public safety committee. it is 4:50. google putting new rules and

restrictions on its new glasses this morning. details next. plus, details on when your golden state warriors will be playing their very first playoff game in six years. you are looking at the east shore freeway, interstate 80, for this shot here. i have a crash that might be affecting drivers heading through this major east bay traffic spot.

new this morning, more good vibrations for the warriors for

the first time in six years. a team gearing up for the playoffs in golden state locking up the sixth seed in the western conference capping off the regular season with a win at portland. last night, all about this young man. steph curry sets a new record for three-pointers in a single season. he makes it 270 this year alone. curry finishes the season with 272 hoops from beyond the arc. nice work, young man. warriors win it, 99-88, setting up a first-round playoff match against the denver nuggets. here is ai look at that scheduled for the first four games of the best of seven series. game one saturday in denver at the pepsi center. the first home game for the warriors is a week from tomorrow. tickets, you are looking to go to the game, they go on sale here at oracle arena, go on sale saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. >> pretty exciting there. lelts check that morning commute with mike. how is it looking out there? >> we have major changes in the oakland area past the home of the warriors. steph curry stepping it up.

we are stepping it down as far as the speeds go right now. northbound side, bottom of the screen. there was temporarily a full track. the arrow pointing over to the right. looks like folks are starting to move the equipment. as is tradition, they stop to get the major stuff off of the roadway and let it clear north of the coliseum. we will get you a look at the east shore freeway as we look way down at west 80. that's the commute direction. things are moving smoothly and relatively light. look at the map, an earlier crash that just cleared the chp westbound. your commute as you are coming down into the university. that is cleared and there is no major slowing off of the bridge. the crash here is eastbound. a little slowing heading up toward san pablo. it sounds like everything is over in the center divide. we are going to move you over toward the city of san francisco where there is slowing over toward the deck. there are overnight crews that

may be moving out of position now. the traffic flow is okay through the area. we are also looking at south 280 as you are heading down off of the 101 interchange. there is still a little slowing. an earlier car fire. that has cleared from the chp report. it looks like things are smoothing out there. in the same area, san francisco, market street, the 700 block, between geary, grand and kearney, we have a muni issue there because of the suspicious package. b.a.r.t. out of san francisco, 15-minute delays. that's unrelated. that may grow as well. we are going to end it here. send it back to you. thank you very much. it is 4:56. google announcing a new set of rules for its highly coveted gadget, google glass. the company says it will not allow people to resell, loan, or give the $1500 device to anyone else without google's permission first. google says if someone violates the rule, it could deacty vise

the commuter and developers cannot place ads on the device and they cannot charge people to download apps for the iwear irth. tickets going on sale for the annual outside lands concerts. big headliners at golden gate park this year. paul mccartney, sir paul, the red hot chili peppers, phoenix and red hot nails slated to perform in august. tickets go on say starting at noon today. a lot more coming up at 4:57. >> it is overwhelming for us. for a town of 2400, we have three ambulances and there are literally hundreds of people hurt. >> we continue to get updates out of west texas on the devastating explosion. a live report with the latest developments next.

how many ems people may be hurt. >> a blast so strong many thought it was an earthquake. >> massive, just like iraq, just like the murray building in oklahoma city. hydrous exploded. so you can imagine what kind of damage we are looking at there. >> it rattled everything in the house. it took my breath away. >> reporter: 75 buildings including homes, middle school and nursing home damaged or destroyed. >> there are homes leveled. there are businesses leveled. there is massive devastation in the downtown west area. >> we have got a lot of people still trapped in houses but that's dangerous